China Footnotes — Chengdu (成都): 12 places for a first visit
Spend the morning with the pandas, the afternoon in a teahouse, and the night at a hotpot table. Chengdu is the China that makes you slow down and stay.
Data version bf7a986c4c57, generated 2026-10-08T15:48:32.305Z.
How to use this file
- Read every Chengdu place in full: https://chinafootnotes.com/chengdu/llms-full.txt
- Read one place: https://chinafootnotes.com/places/{id}.md
- JSON: https://chinafootnotes.com/api/places?city=chengdu · https://chinafootnotes.com/api/cities/chengdu
- Before you go (visa, paying, apps, internet, booking ahead): https://chinafootnotes.com/before-you-go.md
- The whole guide, all cities: https://chinafootnotes.com/llms.txt
Key figures
- Population: 21.54 million (2025)
- Area: 14335 km² (2024)
Weather by month
- Jan: 9.3 °C / 2.7 °C, about 2.8 rain days
- Feb: 12.1 °C / 4.9 °C, about 3.8 rain days
- Mar: 16.8 °C / 8.4 °C, about 6 rain days
- Apr: 22.5 °C / 12.9 °C, about 8 rain days
- May: 26.3 °C / 17.2 °C, about 9.7 rain days
- Jun: 28.3 °C / 20.5 °C, about 10.6 rain days
- Jul: 30 °C / 22.1 °C, about 12.1 rain days
- Aug: 29.9 °C / 21.7 °C, about 12 rain days
- Sep: 25.7 °C / 18.9 °C, about 11.2 rain days
- Oct: 20.7 °C / 14.7 °C, about 8.4 rain days
- Nov: 16 °C / 9.6 °C, about 4 rain days
- Dec: 10.7 °C / 4.2 °C, about 2.1 rain days
Source: WMO, distributed by NOAA NCEI
Book before you go
- Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding: Real-name slot required · book up to 14 days ahead
- Sanxingdui Museum: Advance booking · opens up to 5 days ahead
- Wuhou Shrine: Real-name ticket · 14 days ahead · passport accepted
- Leshan Giant Buddha: Timed tickets online; sold out on busy holidays
In the city
- People’s Park, Chengdu (成都人民公园): Park. A free city park where Chengdu people drink tea by the lake.
- Kuanzhai Alley (宽窄巷子): Open neighbourhood. Three restored Qing-era lanes of tea houses, snacks and shops, free to walk.
- Wenshu Monastery (文殊院): Temple. A free working monastery with red walls, tea and vegetarian food in central Chengdu.
- Du Fu Thatched Cottage (杜甫草堂): Classical garden. A ticketed memorial garden on the site where the Tang poet Du Fu lived in Chengdu.
- Wuhou Shrine (武侯祠): Temple. Three Kingdoms temple-museum for Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang; ¥50 ticket, passport booking.
- Jinli Ancient Street (锦里): Open neighbourhood. Free lantern-lit street of rebuilt Qing-style shopfronts beside Wuhou Shrine.
- Jinsha Site Museum (金沙遗址博物馆): Museum. A Bronze Age Shu capital site with a gold-ornament collection, closed for a rebuild.
- Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (成都大熊猫繁育研究基地): Attraction. Giant and red pandas in a bamboo park; timed real-name tickets, passports accepted.
Dujiangyan
- Dujiangyan Irrigation System (都江堰景区): Attraction. A Qin-era river-splitting waterworks with a swaying bridge, temples and riverside paths.
- Mount Qingcheng (青城山): Attraction. Taoist temples on a forested mountain: gate, lake, cable car and Laojun Pavilion.
Leshan & Sanxingdui
- Leshan Giant Buddha (乐山大佛): Attraction. A 71 m Tang-dynasty Buddha carved into a river cliff, seen on foot or from a boat.
- Sanxingdui Museum (三星堆博物馆): Museum. Bronze Age masks and a four-metre sacred tree, a day trip from Chengdu.